The Ghost of You
by mehrawree
Summary: When Orihime dies falling down the shrine stairs, she heads off to the Soul Society with Rukia. Ichigo, being just Orihime's classmate, witnesses her departure and regrets not getting to know her better. Will their relationship grow when he finds her soul back in the world of the living? (Based on the Bleach pilot chapter) Rated T for language and mild sexual connotations.
1. Goodbye?

Chapter 1:

**Goodbye?**

* * *

"I'll be born again as human so if we meet again let's talk more, okay?" She smiled too brightly for dead person, but then again she's always been a little weird. I really regret not getting to know her more and now we're saying goodbye.

"Ye-Yeah," is the least I could say. "Take care."

And her and Rukia head towards the Soul Society.

I was taking care of the business Rukia had been in charge of before she lost her Shinigami powers. I don't even remember how _I_ got her "powers". The last thing I can recall, I was walking home after school when these ugly ass creatures called "hollows" tried to attack out of nowhere. Then I just woke up back home with Rukia all shrunk up in size. We suddenly got a call alerting Rukia that a young girl had died. I can tell you that I'm not cut out to be a "Soul Reaper" if it means saying goodbye to people I know. It was my first job and my classmate dies. It's just the mess of being able to see ghosts that drags me around like a dog. At least I don't have to take over Rukia's job in the end.

"Sigh." I start walking back home.

Inoue Orihime, it's too bad I only chatted with you once the whole time I knew you. I'm going to have to talk to Arisawa about this. You two were supposed to be good friends.

Yeah, that Tatsuki...

_Shit._

I'm going to be the one to break it to her. Which reminds me, I might have to take care of her funeral, Inoue lived alone so no one else would cover it. Now that I think about it, where's her body?

I turn around and run back to the shrine, but I only see blood stains, no body.

"Hmmm." I scratch my head. I'm not so sure how this whole "Shinigami" business works, but whatever, I'm sure Ruikia knows what she's doing.

* * *

"So you're saying you have bad news?" Tatsuki crosses her arms. I can tell I have just annoyed her. I've been trying to get her to guess what happened yesterday but she's not cooperating.

"Well you can say it's bad, but probably just _sad_." I lean back avoiding her glare.

"Get to the point, Ichigo."

"Fine." I turn to face her. "Inoue died falling down the stairs yesterday."

Tatsuki's eyes widen then I see her expression soften. "Stop joking around." She hits my head with the back of her hand.

"I'm not joking around." She turns around and walks away.

"Yeah, like someone could die from falling down the stairs. Have you even felt Orihime's head? Diamond hard."

Well I never said she hit her head.

"You don't even talk to her, how would you know she died?" She asks.

"Because I was there."

She turns around fiercely, "And you didn't catch her?!"

"N-no!" Damn it, Arisawa. "I mean, I wasn't there to catch her. When I arrived she was already dead."

Her face saddens and her eyes change their focus to the ground. "Ichigo, don't joke. Since yesterday I haven't been able to sense her presence anymore."

I walk to her as I finally see her start to connect everything.

"You think that's it then? I couldn't sense her here because she's... gone?" She asks me.

"Yeah, that's probably it," I reply.

"Is your family going to take care of the funeral preparations? You know she didn't have anyone to care of her."

"I knew that."

"And you know, she really liked you—"

"As a classmate." I respond. "She said that before she left."

"What do you mean before she left?"

"Um I mean, I could tell that that's what she meant with 'like' before she died."

"Oh." She starts to get really quiet. "Do you think I could come over to look at her one last time?"

_Shit._

"Er... You see, right when I was about to take her body back there... I kind of..." I pause and scratch the back of my head. "My dad decided to cremate her body since she had no legal guardians or close relatives."

She stomps on my foot and punches my stomach. "Ichigo, you idiot!" And she storms off as I stand there in pain.

So dealing with Tatsuki went well, I'd say.

She later called me to apologize and said that she'd like to take Inoue's ashes and deal with the funeral herself. My dad should have heard her when I told her I didn't have the ashes with me—her language has never been this colorful. In the end she ended up holding a memorial at her house a week later. I went, of course, along with the rest of our class. I also noticed a few people I didn't recognize which I later realized were Inoue's creepy landlord and her pedophelic stalkers (whom Tatsuki chased out as soon as they entered).

I'm not really an emotional guy, but hearing Arisawa talk about Inoue from the start of their friendship really killed me. If I'd known exactly how lonely she had been, I might have tried to be friends with her. I kind of just observed her because she never talked much. She was always really shy when I'd come around to say hello or when I'd chat with Tatsuki a bit. But Arisawa swears Inoue was a girl with high spirits.

I didn't cry though. I heard some of the girls cry and heard Chizuru make several comments about missing her lovely b-br... Er...

Tatsuki wasn't the type of girl to cry but she teared up several times as she spoke. She was really tough about it though, yelling, "I'm fine!" after every tissue she was offered.

I decided to stick around a little longer to help out a bit. I'm sure Arisawa still isn't feeling so great right now anyway.

As the last person walked out, I decide to approach her as she stubbornly tried to get the room picked up and clean again. "I can help with that," I say as I take some of the dishes off the table.

"It's okay, it was my idea to hold this at my house instead of hers." She wipes the table without looking at me. "I just don't think it would be right to have it at her place..."

"You know, you didn't have to do this by yourself," I say as I take a few tea cups and glasses to the sink.

The room becomes quiet as I start washing the dishes and I hear a short sob. "I'm... I'm going to get the mop." And she walks away. I decide not to say anything and just stick to what I'm doing.

She doesn't return, but I figured she'd never let me see her like that.

I wipe off the table and look around the living room to make sure everything is straightened before heading out. I hear a door close and I look behind me as I open the front door. "It's okay if you cry," I say and then walk out.

The night isn't cold, but I suddenly feel really cold, and for some reason, I start feeling a little depressed.

I look up at the sky and there are barely any stars. I wonder now, how far _is_ the Soul Society? If it were easy to just see the place from down here, I wish I could see whether Inoue was still lonely.

_"If we meet again lets talk more, okay?" _I hear Inoue say in the back of my head.

"Sigh." I put my hands in my pockets.

I walk down the street staring at my shoes more than where I'm going and I start hearing some of the ghosts again. I know they're ghosts because their voices have just a slightly different pitch.

Is Rukia even doing her job properly? I don't think these ghost should be here. I mean if she were going to leave a few ghosts wandering around she might as well have left Inoue. I wouldn't mind keeping _her_ company.

I'm really not in the mood to hear them right now, but the closer I get down the street the louder they are. It's hard to ignore them too, some of them here have this really annoying laugh. I'm sure they could give nightmare's if I didn't know any better.

The voices get louder and it gets harder to ignore them.

"—and so they found out that the one who stole the beans was the robber ducky!" I heard a girls voice say followed by an eruption of intense laughter.

"This girl's great! Right, honey?" It was the voice of an older gentleman.

"Yes, and so sweet. How did you say you died, sweetie?" An older woman's voice asked.

"Don't ask her again. You might as well tell her how we died." Her husband replied.

"But it's boring. It's just old age, sweetheart." The woman said.

"I'm sad to see how young you are." The man uttered.

"Don't say that. Instead, make her laugh a little. Tell her how that friend of yours died."

"Oh you mean Shin-Woo? Yeah, he's gone now but he died tripping over a step and biting his tongue."

"Not right away though, it got infected and then he died from it a few months later. The doctors back then weren't great."

Then I heard a young girl laugh.

"So how did you say you died?" The older couple asked curiously.

I turned the curb and I could still here them.

"It's kind of embarrassing," I heard the young girl say and I stop for a minute because I think I might know who's talking. But it's kind of hard to believe...

I turn around and walk towards the abandoned building right across from the convenience store.

"I died falling down the stairs last week," the girl laughs. But my eyes widen when I take a look.

"Inoue?" The girl turns around to look at me and she looks a little surprised to see me.

"Kurasaki-kun!" She beams.

I swear, she smiles too brightly for a dead person.

* * *

**A/N: **So It's been about two weeks since I finally caught up with Bleach, yay! And then I read the official one shot for the series. You know how many popular series' have one shots before the manga becomes serialized? Well so did Bleach. And I'm so glad I read it! The scale between Ichihime and IchiRuki was at a 6:4 ratio (in my opinion) and that one shot brought it up to 8:2. Seriously, it made me so happy. This story is based off of the one shot. Anyway, I hope you liked it, and if you did let me know ^_^

P.S. It's incomplete (and you should go read the one shot on Manga Eden, it'll make your day).


	2. Jeans

Chapter 2:

**Jeans**

* * *

_Everything's too sudden. _

_I can't think of what to say. _

_But she's looking at me._

_"Y-You know, I want to ask you for a favor..." She said._

* * *

"Inoue?"

She looks up at me. "Kurosaki-kun!" And smiles.

I don't really know what to say to her other than ask her what she's doing here and why she isn't at the Soul Society with Rukia. Seeing her again would have been sixty years from now—until she had been reincarnated. Although by then I'd be seventy-five if not dead. Now, just a week later, I find her here.

Maybe I'll just skip the questions and ask her how she's been since last week, if the Soul Society treated her well, if she hasn't ran into any hollows, if she'd like to—

"Kurosaki-kun?"

Shit, she's staring at me.

I blink several times. "Inoue," I scratch the back of my head, "So... h-how's it like being a ghost?"

I should have just asked her where Rukia is...

"It's fun!" She keeps smiling. "I get to meet all these new people, some of them are really nice. But, Kurosaki-kun?" Her expression changes a little and she scratches the side of her cheek.

"Y-Yeah?" I reply.

She walks towards me. "How are you able to see ghosts?"

I avoid her eyes and start looking around. How _can_ I see ghosts? I don't know how to explain _that_. I guess telling her the truth won't hurt anymore.

"It's needed for my part-time job." I lie anyway.

"Oh! As a shinigami, right?"

"Sure."

"It's good to see you, Kurosaki-kun." She puts her hands behind her and leans forward a bit, smiling with both her eyes and lips.

I step back. "Same goes for me, Inoue." I manage half a smile.

"Who's this, sweetie?" I hear the voice of the older woman. I completely forgot there were more ghosts here. "Boyfriend?" The old lady giggles.

Inoue, turns around and shakes her head. "N-no! We're classmates, or we were classmates." She laughs nervously.

"Ah, it's one-sided," the lady whispers. "We should leave them, I'm sure they have a lot to talk about." She says.

"Let's see each other again." The old man waves.

"You should tell him, sweetie, you have nothing to lose!" And they both disappear.

"_Tell me_..." I mumble.

She turns to me again. "Don't worry about what she said, she just meant to, uh, tell you why I'm here."

"No, I'm not worried about that."

"You're not?"

"I'm sure Rukia know's what she's doing. But where is she?" I ask.

"Oh." She switches her gaze towards the floor. "She's not here," she says softly.

That damn Shinigami, I take it she's not doing her job right.

"So, do you have anywhere to go?" I ask. I don't want her wandering the streets alone with no shinigami around.

"Well I was planning on roaming around a little. Do you think I can scare people?"

I want to laugh at her because she's just... not scary. "Maybe if you sneak up on them."

"No, I think I can just make noises and move some furniture." She keeps a smile on her face.

I smile at her and then ask her if she wants to walk with me. She nods and I feel a little better having her next to me.

We walk silently to my house.

* * *

"I'm home," I say as I take off my shoes. I notice that Inoue tries to take off her shoes, it's kind of funny, she hasn't realized she's floating now.

She sees me looking at her and she just smiles again. I point down at her feet and she makes an interesting face, a mixture of realization and embarrassment.

She laughs. "Oh yeah, I forgot."

We walk past the kitchen and I head to my room. I kind of figure Inoue is following me, but I look behind me anyway. She's just standing by the dining table.

"You can come—"

"Hey, who's the ghost?" I hear Karin say as she sets a glass of milk on the table.

"Ah yeah, this is Inoue, she's a classmate," I reply. "She was wandering around alone, figured I'd bring her in."

Inoue staggers a little and looks back and forth between me an Karin. "You can see ghosts too?" She asks her.

"Unfortunately. But I'll tell you something." Karin answers. She then looks at me and smirks. "You're the first girl he brings home."

"Idiot, don't say that. She's a friend who died not too long ago." I walk toward them. "She was my classmate. And I've brought plenty of girls!"

"Tatsuki doesn't count."

"Hi, you must be Kurosaki-kun's sister, nice too meet you. I'm Inoue Orihime." She bows slightly; a little too polite for my younger sister.

Karin looks back at me again. "You two were friends?"

"_Classmates_." I respond.

"Of course, there's no _chance_ you'd be more." She states.

I'm just going to ignore that, Karin.

"Anyway, I'm going to do my homework, dad said he'd be late." She says. "Also, Yuzu made chocolate cake today, it's in the fridge. Get some before dad comes home." She gulps down the glass of milk and walks into her room.

"Sigh." I scratch the back of my head. "You can come into my room if you want, Inoue." I say and open the door.

I don't hear her respond so I take a look at her and she's staring intently at the fridge. It's a look I've never seen before, but probably one that Arisawa had seen plenty of times. I kind of want to laugh and not because she looks funny, rather she looks like my little sisters with that face. There's a certain twinkle in her eye and she looks like she's thinking of the right words to ask me. Her mouth is slightly open which makes her look even more interesting.

"Do you want some chocolate cake?" I ask.

She gets a little teary eyed like telling me she's relieved I've asked her. I hold in my chuckle as she nods and thanks me.

I take out the cake and we sit on the table. The cake is covered in creamy milk chocolate frosting, decorated with an assortment of nuts, and topped with five ripe strawberries.

Yuzu's the best. Even _my_ mouth is watering

But I'm not about to admit how much I love chocolate.

I grab plates, forks, and a knife. I give Inoue a piece and she thanks me again. Then I finally realize something.

"Ghosts can eat?" I ask out loud.

Inoue stops what she's doing and stares at the piece of cake on her fork. She closes her mouth and thinks for a moment.

I just stare at her now. She's thinking pretty hard as she's analyzing the way she's holding her fork and how the fork is holding the bite-size piece of chocolate cake. She makes a worried face but then opens her mouth and finally attempts to eat it.

"It's so good!" She cries.

I let out a short chuckle as I grab a piece for me. I look up again and she's smiling toward my direction... I blink and look down, but I fucking end up losing my cool.

"Shit!"

"Kurosaki-kun!"

"It's okay it just landed on my lap."

She gets up and floats around, "Um, uh, where are the paper-towels!"

"It's okay, I'll use these napkins."

"Are you hurt? Oh wait you can't be hurt, it's just chocolate cake!"

"I'm okay."

She squats next to my chair and tries to clean up.

I have to admit that this is one of the most embarrassing situations I've ever been in. It's really uncomfortable for me, not because of the damn chocolate cake falling on my lap, but having a girl try to clean my jeans. My fucking jeans...

I'm not even sure if she knows where the cake landed. Maybe she's just being a girl and at the sight of a mess she automatically thinks "Clean!". And what's making me angry is not her, it's the fact that she's so close and it's making me so fucking nervous.

I'm normally a cool guy, my reputation has been plainly established as such and I've worked hard to maintain that image. But this, _she_, is ruining it too easily.

I don't want to yell at her because I'm sure she's just trying to be helpful, but there is nothing I can think of to stop her.

Fuck.

I look at the top of her head and lean my lips toward her ear.

"Inoue?" I say as cool as I can.

"Yes?" She turns her head and her nose almost touches my lip. Her face suddenly turns red and she moves backward as fast as she can.

She finally realizes it. But now I'm a little curious, do ghosts have the same chemical reactions as their human bodies?

* * *

**A/N: **I intended to update soon but school started which delayed the update. But now I have time :D Anyway, thanks for reading up to here even if you didn't like it I appreciate your time. Remember though, read the one-shot for Bleach, it's adorable! ^_^


	3. Open Windows and Cold Winds

Chapter 3:

**Open Windows and Cold Winds**

* * *

_I knew she was lonely. _

_That's why I came when I heard Inoue died._

* * *

The other night was uncomfortable.

I had to apologize several times until Inoue finally looked at me. Her face was flushed the whole time and she kept her lips tight in a straight line. It was obvious she didn't want to talk to me.

I'm upset about it because she's not the only one that was embarrassed, I was _a lot_ more embarrassed. I mean, it was the first time a girl had…

_Shit_, I just need to pretend nothing happened.

It's been three days since that night and it's moved from uncomfortable to troublesome. I know she doesn't do it intentionally and it's just some fated bad luck on her part that makes her cover her face and runaway embarrassed.

For instance, yesterday I came from school and I found her sleeping on the couch. It was weird because it never crossed my mind that ghosts could get tired to the point that they required sleep. Hell, I didn't know ghosts even _slept_, but she was sleeping.

I stared at her for a good minute before going up into my room. I threw my school bag on the floor, pulled out a pair of jeans and a plain black shirt and took off my school uniform. Suddenly I heard her yawning and the next thing I knew, she was already slipping through the wall rubbing her eyes.

"Inoue…" I muttered. "Just give me a minute and don't look." I quickly tried to put on my jeans.

"S-sorry!" She shrieked completely flustered and I didn't dare to look at her yet.

I put on my shirt and turned around, but she's was already gone.

Just something else I need to apologize for. Unfortunately, these things don't end there.

Yuzu has finally started to take note of her which is rare because usually she can't detect ghosts, but she says she can see Inoue. So now they both like to play together. Inoue seems to really like Yuzu and that's good I guess, but something happened a little while ago...

Inoue was in Yuzu's room. I don't know what was going on, but I could hear giggling and mumbling. I was in the living room watching some reality show I had no particular interest for and kept glancing up the stairs because both of them were being unusually loud.

I kind of dozed off in my thoughts as I was considering whether or not to go up and join them. Not that I cared much for it. I was just curious to see what was up with all that giggling. When suddenly I heard Inoue scream, loud, like if she were in pain.

I quickly ran up and barged into the room.

It was a bad mistake, and now she's wandering around outside by herself.

I don't even want to think about it.

She was surprised when I entered the room too, and Yuzu slammed the door right on my nose. But I admit, I deserve it.

Yuzu was trying to dress her up and I happened to walk in just as Yuzu was trying to zip up the back of Inoue's dress, but a part of her was just not small enough and I noticed, _clearly_.

She was practically fully exposed, it was hard _not_ to notice.

I don't know what to do about her anymore. If I had a Soul Society phone I'd call Rukia, but I have no idea where the fuck she is.

Anyway, right after I got the door slammed in my face, Inoue came out of the room thanked me for my hospitality as she avoided eye-contact, and walked out.

I was going to apologize to her, but she didn't give me enough time.

I've been sitting on the couch for almost an hour wondering whether I should go out and get her or just wait and see if she comes back. The thing is though, I can't get that image of_ her_ off my head.

I look up at Yuzu and she's glaring at me from the dining room table.

"What is it, Yuzu?"

"Why would you barge into the room without knocking first?" She takes her chopsticks and slurps her noodles angrily.

"She yelled, and I responded." Although there really isn't any real justification.

She frowns. "It's not like we were being _attacked._"

Karin looks up from the book she's reading. "You should go find her," she says.

I rub my temples knowing perfectly which two ways she could react to me: First, she might slap me across the face for _staring_ too much, or second, she'll just blush and walk away when she notices me _staring_ too much.

I curse between my teeth again, and then the front door opens.

"Ichigo!" I hear my dad, but I'm not in the mood for his greetings so I don't bother looking at him and start walking towards the stairs.

"Ichigooooo!" He yells and kicks me from behind.

"What the hell, I'm not in the moo—" I stop when I notice Inoue hiding behind my dad.

"Why was she outside all by herself?" He asks. But I'm completely confused. He's acting like he knows who she is, like if he can see…

"Dad, you can see her?"

"Of course, it's hard to miss such a beautiful young girl hiding in my son's room," he says. "I'm still wondering why she's here, but if she has nowhere to go we have to offer our hospitality."

"Dads right, Ichi-nii. We all like her," Yuzu stands up and walks towards Inoue.

"I've been okay with it," says Karin.

"Okay it's done, make yourself at home!"

"What the... it's not like I kicked her out in the first place!" Seriously, they're all trying to blame me.

Karin closes her book. "Well you did make her feel uncomfortable," she says.

"Yeah, you better not do that again." Yuzu grabs Inoue's hand. "Let's go play some more, Inoue-san."

"S-sure," I hear her say. She looks at me and then switches her gaze to the floor when she notices me looking at her. Her face is so red that I just feel a huge sting of embarrassment in my stomach.

I just want to punch myself.

They head off to play or whatever and I just sit back down on the couch. I look at my dad as he walks off. There are now several questions I want to ask him, but I think I can ask them later.

What I need to do now is get her off my head before I start getting awkward.

* * *

So I've been sitting in the hallway outside of my sisters bedroom door for over an hour. It's almost midnight now and Inoue is still with Karin and Yuzu. I'm only waiting for her because I really want to apologize properly. Or actually apologize since I haven't yet. But I think I'll just do it tomorrow.

I stand up and go into my room closing the door quietly behind me. The breeze comes in through the open window as I lie on my bed. I close my eyes.

I learned this trick in the last couple of hours, if I don't want to think about certain things I just have to hold my breath for thirty seconds. If I keep thinking I have to hold my breath for sixty.

It's a little childish, I know. I just don't want her to see the creep inside of me.

I turn to the side as I let out my breath. A slight shiver runs down my spine when I feel the wind blow in again.

It's kind of cold. Maybe if I were a ghost too I wouldn't feel the cold. But do ghost feel like humans do? I mean, do they feel cold, hungry, or sleepy? I always knew Inoue was _different_, but it's really strange that she actually feels these things. She might have starved if I hadn't found her too. Sometimes I wonder where she would be if I hadn't been there. And that damn shinigami isn't even doing her job with all those damn _things _howling outside every day. If I would've left Inoue alone, what would've happened? She might have ended up like her dad.

Damn it, the more I think about these things, the more confused I get. How is it that she came back in the first place? She was supposed to stay at the Soul Society until she was reincarnated after sixty years. But she's here. Why is she? It doesn't make any sense to me.

Another thing is really messing with me too, why can both Dad and Yuzu see Inoue? In the family the only ones who can see ghosts are me and Karin. There are a lot of things that contradict my ideas of a "ghost". I mean, who has heard of a ghost that eats and sleeps? And I've been able to see ghosts ever since I can remember.

This whole damn situation is unclear and it's making me more irritated than it should.

"Damn it..." I hold my breath and start counting in my head.

_One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven..._

A cold breeze sweeps through my hair and I let out my breath. I inhale slowly and I start smelling something familiar.

_Have I always been able to smell her_?

I open my eyes when I hear two light knocks on my door. I know it's Inoue.

I get up and open it. I see her standing there, looking at her feet instead of looking up at me. "Kurosaki-kun," she says quietly and before she can continue, I cut her off

"I'm sorry," I start. "I didn't mean to barge in like that. It's just... I heard a scream and I thought…" I pause for a second. "It was stupid of me."

She finally looks up at me still with her red face and all. Then she smiles. "It's okay," she rubs the back of her head still flustered, but I can tell she believes me. "I'm sorry I made it a big deal, it's just that I'm not good with situations like that."

"Really? I thought for sure you were used to stares and weird looks." Suddenly I regret saying that. It's probably not the nicest thing I've said to a girl.

"Well, I always noticed the stares, but I never thought they were for me." She laughs uneasily. "I wanted to apologize too, for intruding so much." She puts her hands in front of her and right when she finally meets my eyes, she looks away and starts acting all fidgety. I'm not sure why she's like that—acting all shy and nervous all the time. It's kind of nice though, I don't think I've ever met anyone who takes their time before feeling comfortable.

Here I thought we were doing so well, but after today, it's like stage one again, like when I met her back in middle school. Tatsuki introduced us after karate practice during the summer, it was one of the few days I decided to show up before quitting. She was really quiet and I could barely understand what she was saying until Tatsuki told her to speak up.

I start feeling something weird in my stomach again. Embarrassment maybe?

I motion her to come in because all of a sudden I don't want her to leave yet. She walks in and I shut the door. I lean against my desk and tell her to sit on my bed.

For a good minute we just stay there in silence listening to the loud ticking of the five-year-old clock sitting on my desk. I start feeling glad that I can at least hear something other than my loud breathing.

"Kurosaki-kun, um, there's something I want to tell you." She breaks the silence, speaking softly, like if she doesn't want to wake anyone up.

"Go ahead, Inoue." I say, casually crossing my arms.

"I wish I had told you sooner..." She whispers. "Do you, um do you, remember a little girl who came into your family's clinic with her dad on her shoulders?" She pauses. I don't say anything as I start thinking about it. "It was a few years ago so you might not remember," she says.

"No, I do remember."

"I don't look like it now, but that girl was me. I was going to tell you when I saw you again, but I guess I chickened out."

"I actually found that out a few weeks after we entered high school," I say.

"Really? I wasn't sure if you'd recognize me, I had short hair back then. I recognized you right away though, and when I asked Tatsuki she affirmed it." Her eyes almost change color as she forms a smile. "I was really happy to know it was you." She stands up. "Apart from that time in middle school when Tatsuki introduced us, I never got the chance to really talk to you. It's one of the few things I regret. So now that I'm here," she bows and her long hair falls gracefully in front of her. "Please take care of me." She says.

I may not know how this whole Shinigami business works, but I'm suddenly feeling glad I found Rukia that day.

Maybe I'm not supposed to feel this way and maybe this ghost thing isn't normal, however, I couldn't stop myself from feeling sad that day she died. When we got that alert, I told myself I could see her off without feeling sad, and it's mostly because I felt guilty. I'd be lying if I said I never noticed her before then.

She stands straight again and looks at me with brown eyes that could almost look gray under her bangs. She smiles so brightly again and an unfamiliar warmth reaches my chest. I begin feeling a flash of heat rush to my face and I stumble backwards as I try to look away.

I'm probably getting a fever from this cold wind blowing into my room.

* * *

**A/N:** So I wasn't sure at first whether I should have her brother be the one who died or just keep it as her dad like the pilot chapter. In the end I decided on her dad. Same goes for the Kurasaki's family clinic, in the pilot chapter they actually run a mortuary and I wanted to keep it that way, but we're all used the family clinic so I figured I'd just keep that way.

Anyway, I want to thank everyone that has taken the time to read, follow, and review my story. It always makes me so happy reading what you have to say even if it's short. I'm terrible at replying, but I hope you know I really appreciate you all :)


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